5 Filters

Meta-analysis says Mercury and Autism link, also Lead

#1

Updated article from Dr Cremola. The main study was published last year, as was the article, which has updated material. The article also contains 3 videos.

Studies of both both mercury and lead were included and tallied up, as well as copper. The authors of the study reckon that the mercury connection with autism is causal.

I didn’t find the explanations clear, in particular the conclusion regarding lead. TBH I didn’t think it seemed the most in depth analysis I’ve seen; that’s not necessarily a negative, and, along with Dr Cremola’s overlaid commentary, it’s a good snapshot of the numerical picture - there is a strong association, and mercury is long known to be neurotoxic.

The CDC is now acknowledging there is a risk from amalgam; now saying the benefits outweigh the risks. (Haven’t we heard that phrase before recently!? )

Dr M laments the fact that aluminium was not included in the analysis, and discusses that.
Evvy

Study Shows Significant Link Between Mercury and Autism (9/12/21)

Story at-a-glance

  • A September 2020 meta-analysis concludes there is a significant relationship between autism and concentrations of lead and mercury in the body
  • According to the researchers, mercury concentration is a pathogenic cause for autism, meaning it’s a causative factor
  • According to a 2014 review, there is evidence of malfeasance and conflicts of interest in studies claiming that thimerosal in vaccines is safe
  • Serious flaws and errors also plague studies that claim aluminum in vaccines is safe. A mathematical error found in a key FDA study has reignited concerns about the safety of aluminum in vaccines
  • Glutathione is the dominant agent that binds to and helps move mercury and other heavy metals out of your tissues. Part of effective detox involves upregulating your biochemistry to facilitate the mobilization and elimination of metals

This article was previously published October 13, 2020, and has been updated with new information.

The controversy over whether mercury overexposure can trigger autism is a long-standing one. A new meta-analysis of previous studies sheds much needed light on the matter, concluding there’s a “significant relationship” between the two.

The review,1,2 published in the September 2020 issue of Pediatric Health, Medicine and Therapeutics, looked at 18 studies conducted between 1982 and 2019 that examined the relationship between concentrations of copper, lead or mercury in blood, plasma, hair or nails and the prevalence of autism. While no relationship was found between autism and copper concentrations, a high degree of correlation was found for mercury and lead.

There is … a significant relationship between mercury concentration and autism. Thus, the concentration of mercury can be listed as a pathogenic cause (disease-causing) for autism. ~ Pediatric Health, Medicine and Therapy 2020

According to the authors,3 the relationship between mercury and autism is so strong that “the concentration of mercury can be listed as a pathogenic cause (disease-causing) for autism.” This held true even when outlier studies that might unduly influence the results were removed.

Mercury Is a Causative Factor

In the introduction, the authors point out that studies carried out in this area suggest mercury and other toxins are involved in the cause of autism, which include abnormal brain development that affects social interaction and communication skills.

“Metals’ biological effects are associated with their chemical properties, suggesting that excessive metal exposure can cause brain abnormalities around the world,” the researchers state.4

"Mercury is considered as a risk factor for autism since, according to previous studies, it has been recognized as a neurotrophic toxin. Reduction in mercury content in hair and teeth of the children with autism aroused the low disposal of mercury hypothesis.

Blaurock-Bush et al found that heavy metals are effective in the development of autism disorder. The role of mercury in the pathogenesis of autism has also been proven in other studies …

According to points raised in the present study … it would be quite reasonable to advise prevention of exposure to mercury and lead in children and provision of suitable conditions during the sensitive period of mothers’ pregnancy as vital measures to prevent the disease …"

A 2017 review paper,5 “The Toxicology of Mercury: Current Research and Emerging Trends,” details the “kinetics of this metal,” including “its metabolism, interaction with other metals, distribution, internal doses and targets and reservoir organs.” The paper cites several studies linking mercury and autism among its references, noting that:6

"Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has been demonstrated to be accompanied by distorted metal homeostasis. The degree to which people are affected by the metals seems to be largely influenced by the individual genetic makeup.

Especially Hg [mercury] exposure has become a suspected causative factor for many pathological conditions, and several sources of exposure to Hg compounds can be listed, including dental amalgam fillings, seafood, vaccines and increasingly from energy saving light bulbs as well."

Malfeasance in Research Showing Thimerosal Safety

Video: How mercury kills the brain~autism

In the video above, the University of Calgary faculty of medicine illustrates how mercury causes neuronal degeneration in your brain. While there are many environmental sources of mercury exposure, some of the most prominent ones include high-mercury fish, dental amalgam and thimerosal-containing vaccines.

Thimerosal is a mercury-based preservative used in certain vaccines. While it has been removed from most childhood vaccines, it is still used in some multidose vials, meaning vials that contain more than a single dose of the vaccine.

Remarkably, while the fact that mercury is neurotoxic is noncontroversial, health authorities still insist injected thimerosal is perfectly safe and has never been linked to neurological dysfunction. How could that be?

In 2014, a review article7 in the BioMed Research International journal titled, “Methodological Issues and Evidence of Malfeasance in Research Purporting to Show Thimerosal in Vaccines Is Safe,” noted that:

"The studies upon which the CDC relies and over which it exerted some level of control report that there is no increased risk of autism from exposure to organic Hg in vaccines, and some of these studies even reported that exposure to Thimerosal appeared to decrease the risk of autism.

These six studies are in sharp contrast to research conducted by independent researchers over the past 75+ years that have consistently found Thimerosal to be harmful … Many studies conducted by independent investigators have found Thimerosal to be associated with neurodevelopmental disorders.

Several studies, for example, including three of the six studies covered in this review, have found Thimerosal to be a risk factor for tics. In addition, Thimerosal has been found to be a risk factor in speech delay, language delay, attention deficit disorder, and autism.

Considering that there are many studies conducted by independent researchers which show a relationship between Thimerosal and neurodevelopmental disorders, the results of the six studies examined in this review, particularly those showing the protective effects of Thimerosal, should bring into question the validity of the methodology used in the studies …

Importantly … five of the publications examined in this review were directly commissioned by the CDC, raising the possible issue of conflict of interests or research bias, since vaccine promotion is a central mission of the CDC.

Conceivably, if serious neurological disorders are found to be related to Thimerosal in vaccines, such findings could possibly be viewed as damaging to the vaccine program."

Aluminum Is Another Neurotoxic Poison

Today, the most commonly used vaccine preservative is aluminum, not thimerosal. It’s unfortunate that the Pediatric Health, Medicine and Therapeutics review did not include it, because it’s likely that aluminum has a similar impact on autism as mercury.

According to a 2018 study,8 people with autism were found to have high amounts of aluminum in their brains.

“The mean (standard deviation) aluminium content across all 5 individuals for each lobe were 3.82(5.42), 2.30(2.00), 2.79(4.05) and 3.82(5.17) μg/g dry wt. for the occipital, frontal, temporal and parietal lobes respectively,” the researchers noted.9

The lead author on this paper was Dr. Christopher Exley, a leading expert in aluminum toxicology. He and a team of international scientists have also published a paper10 in the December 2020 issue of the Journal of Trace Elements in Medicine and Biology.

In it, they provide evidence for their position that “the safety of aluminium-based vaccine adjuvants … must be seriously evaluated without further delay, particularly at a time when the CDC is announcing a still increasing prevalence of autism spectrum disorders, of 1 child in 54 in the USA."

As with thimerosal above, serious flaws and errors plague studies that claim aluminum in vaccines is safe, including a mathematical error found in a key U.S. Food and Drug Administration study has reignited concerns about its safety.

The FDA study,11 published in 2011, compared aluminum exposure from vaccines in infants to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry’s (ATSDR) safety limit of oral aluminum, concluding that:12

"… the body burden of aluminum from vaccines and diet throughout an infant’s first year of life is significantly less than the corresponding safe body burden of aluminum modeled using the regulatory MRL.

We conclude that episodic exposures to vaccines that contain aluminum adjuvant continue to be extremely low risk to infants and that the benefits of using vaccines containing aluminum adjuvant outweigh any theoretical concerns."

The problem, found by Physicians for Informed Consent, is that the FDA based its calculations on 0.78% of oral aluminum being absorbed into the bloodstream instead of the value of 0.1% used by the ATSDR.

“As a result,” Physicians for Informed Consent noted,13 “the FDA paper assumed that nearly 8 (0.78%/0.1%) times more aluminum can safely enter the bloodstream, and this led the authors to incorrectly conclude that aluminum exposure from vaccines was well below the safety limit.” Christopher Shaw, a professor at the University of British Columbia who has studied the effects of injected aluminum, explained in a news release:14

"We knew that the [2011] Mitkus et al. paper modeling aluminum clearance had to be inaccurate since it was assuming that injected aluminum kinetics were the same as the kinetics of aluminum acquired through diet.

Now, in addition, we see that they did their modeling based on using the incorrect level of aluminum absorption. What is particularly striking is that despite all these errors, since 2011, Mitkus et al. is used by CDC and other entities as the basis for claiming that aluminum adjuvants are safe."

The Dangers of Lead

Lead is a naturally occurring metal that was once commonly used in gasoline, paint and children’s toys, and is still a part of batteries, pipes, pottery, roofing materials and cosmetics. Due to environmental pollution, food and water has also become a source of this dangerous toxin.

If you live in an urban area or near a busy road, it’s probably best to assume that your soil is contaminated with lead to some extent. This is also an issue if you plan to plant a vegetable garden, as vegetables can take up lead from the soil very efficiently.

Lead damages your brain and nervous system, and has been shown to lower IQ. Even small amounts can be dangerous, as lead builds up in your body over time. Children under 6 are especially at risk, as they absorb lead more easily than adults.

Herbert Needleman was a researcher who studied neurodevelopmental damage caused by lead poisoning,15 and he performed much of the foundational research showing even low levels of lead were dangerous. Another crucial crusader against lead was geochemist Clair Cameron Patterson, Ph.D.

It’s thanks to Patterson’s tireless work that lead was finally removed from gasoline, thereby saving untold billions of people from serious harm.16 He’s an unsung public health hero of the 20th century that most people have never heard of.

The video below is a short summary of the evolution of leaded gas, and ultimately, its removal, which was no small feat. Unfortunately, there are many other sources of toxic metals, and unless we address them all, we’re unlikely to get a handle on the autism epidemic.

Video: Lead for life - the history of leaded gasoline - an excerpt

We’re Getting Mercury Out of Dentistry

As mentioned, dental mercury is one pernicious source of mercury. Here, there is good news. After years of pressure from Consumers for Dental Choice and its allies, the FDA has finally released a long-overdue safety communication on dental amalgam.17 September 24, 2020, the FDA issued a warning that mercury fillings may adversely affect:

Pregnant women and their developing fetuses
Women who are planning to become pregnant
Nursing women and their newborns and infants
Children, especially those younger than 6
People with pre-existing neurological disease such as multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease or Parkinson’s disease
People with impaired kidney function
People with known heightened sensitivity (allergy) to mercury or other components of dental amalgam

While the FDA downplays the importance of its changed recommendation by stressing that the benefits of dental amalgam likely “outweigh their risks for most patients,” this update is nothing short of monumental, and opens the door, finally, for the elimination of dental mercury for all patients in the U.S., as has been done in many other countries already.

Detoxifying Heavy Metals

Heavy metal detoxification is no simple matter. Glutathione is the dominant agent that binds to and helps move mercury and other heavy metals out of your tissues. Part of effective detox involves upregulating your biochemistry to facilitate the mobilization and elimination of metals. In summary, the three pillars of heavy metal detox are:

  1. Cleanse and clear your GI tract of metals and toxins
  2. Optimize glutathione
  3. Upregulate detox genes

One way to help improve your glutathione is by taking N-acetylcysteine (NAC), which is a precursor to and rate-limiting nutrient for the formation of glutathione. Glutathione is poorly absorbed so, in many cases, it’s easier to raise your glutathione by taking NAC instead.

In addition to upregulating your biochemistry to mobilize and eliminate heavy metals, sauna bathing can also go a long way toward eliminating mercury and other toxins from your body.

Video : Does sweating detox the body - sweating and detox

In January 2020, I interviewed Boyd Haley, Ph.D., a chemist specializing in the development of chemicals to chelate toxic metals. Haley has developed a nontoxic chelating compound called emeramide or NBMI (brand name Irminix), which tightly binds to mercury and free iron (which is also highly toxic), and acts as a potent antioxidant, as it has two glutathione arms.

Emeramid is still under drug development but can be obtained via expanded access, named patient use, compassionate use or special use, depending on the country you’re in. An early access application and prescription, required by the EMA, is available on the company’s website, EmeraMed.com.18

In closing, the evidence strongly suggests exposure to mercury, lead and aluminum are significant risk factors for autism and other neuropathologies. The simplest answer to the autism epidemic is therefore to prevent children from these kinds of exposures. That includes banning dental amalgam and getting thimerosal and aluminum out of all vaccines.

Sources and References

https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2021/12/09/is-mercury-linked-to-autism.aspx

#2

The Latest Updates on the Fight Against Dental Amalgam
From Dr Mercurola :slightly_smiling_face:
At last the resistance on this issue is beginning to bite down
ED

The Latest Updates on the Fight Against Dental Amalgam

Analysis by Charlie Brown, J.D.

Story at-a-glance

  • Consumers for Dental Choice is a small non-governmental organization campaigning for mercury-free dentistry in the U.S. and worldwide. Our goal is to, first, end amalgam for vulnerable people and, second, to end the use of amalgam in the entire world
  • Dental amalgam is approximately 50% mercury, which is such a dangerous neurotoxin, brain poison and nephrotoxin that it is the only subject of an entire international environmental treaty
  • The Children’s Amendment to the amalgam reduction requirement of the Minamata Convention on Mercury in 2022 sets a new floor for the world. If we can end amalgam for children, we can end it for all of us
  • If you have choices, you need to go to a dentist who’s mercury-free. If you can’t persuade that dentist to stop giving amalgam to everyone, don’t give them your hard-earned dollars
  • Dr. Mercola will match every dollar you donate to Consumers for Dental Choice until Saturday night August 27, 2022 (up to $150,000). Here is your chance to help send dental amalgam to the hazardous waste bins of history!

As a former state attorney general, elected twice in my state, I feel I can bring attention to the cause of mercury-free dentistry in a creative, energetic and experienced way. My legal experience has allowed us to sue the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and beat them in court. It’s allowed us to figure out political, as well as legal strategies, organizing strategies from the administrative background that I had.

I think I’ve been able as a citizen, as a lawyer, as a former state attorney general and as an author to bring together forces to bring us to the near point of ending the use of mercury in the mouth on our wonderful planet, Earth.

Paving the Way Toward a Mercury-Free Planet

Consumers for Dental Choice is a small non-governmental organization (NGO), national and worldwide in scope. We have a single mission: We are considered, by any measurement, an effective organization in getting results and an efficient organization in spending per dollar. Not only important results, but important results on a per dollar basis of our budget.

If you’re interested in donating, we ask that you recognize that your dollars will be very well spent if you give to Consumers for Dental Choice. Up until August 27, 2022, Dr. Joseph Mercola will double whatever you choose to give. So, we urge you; if you are interested in helping the cause of mercury-free dentistry, now is the time.


donate to consumers for dental choice

When we started, only 3% of the dentists were mercury-free, and dental boards were shutting them down one by one. But we were able to get dentists who are mercury-free into a good situation. We won state fact sheet laws. We sued and beat the U.S. FDA. Then we went worldwide, founding the World Alliance for Mercury-Free Dentistry and getting our campaign for mercury-free dentistry into 60 nations.

So, it would be very welcoming, for whatever level that people would choose to give, to donate. And again, we ask you to recognize that your dollars are well spent on this effective and efficient organization.

The Indisputable Dangers of Mercury

Mercury is such a dangerous neurotoxin, brain poison and nephrotoxin (kidney poison) that it is the only subject of an entire international environmental treaty. It’s the only one time it’s been done.

Amalgam is a workplace hazard. Remember that mercury is the most vaporous of the heavy metals. And we know that because it’s the one that’s liquid at room temperature. When you look at mercury, it’s very shimmery — that’s the vapors coming off.

So, in the workplace, it’s quite poisonous for the dental staff. They are breathing mercury the entire workday. And for the women of childbearing age, it is a particular risk to their newborn children. It has been proved that it’s a workplace risk.

Amalgam is also a health risk, indisputably. So much so that it has been banned for use in children, pregnant women and breastfeeding women by the European Union (EU) since 2018 and by other places. Many countries have simply disallowed its use, and the FDA has gotten close because they issued a safety communication recommending against its use.

Finally, amalgam is an environmental injustice, because who gets amalgam these days? In the past we all did, because dentists didn’t have good alternatives. But they have good alternatives now, so we’re seeing amalgam less and less, and not so much in the private dental office.

But there’s still continued use by the government bureaucracies (federal and state), in the prisons, in the school services, in the military services, in the Indian Health Service — the places where we would expect our government to be ahead of the curve. But they are way behind the curve, because apparently, in government programs, the consumer choice doesn’t matter and the consumer doesn’t matter. I promise you, we’re working to change that.

The Minamata Convention Has Started the Paradigm Shift

The game changer for the world was the Minamata Convention on Mercury, where the World Alliance for Mercury-Free Dentistry, the group I lead, won a three-year siege, a three-year battle, in the negotiations, and got a requirement. Every country started scaling down the use of mercury in dentistry. In getting that, we also were able to get it in the annex part of the treaty, which meant that future amendments could come, and assuredly, a future amendment has come.

The Children’s Amendment to the amalgam reduction requirement of the Minamata Convention on Mercury in 2022 sets a new floor for the world: end of dental amalgam for children. It is a landmark accomplishment. It was done through the leadership from the civil society by the World Alliance for Mercury Free-Dentistry. From Consumers for Dental Choice, we provide the staffing leadership.

If you donate to Consumers for Dental Choice, you are helping protect from amalgam use, both the children under 15, and pregnant women and breastfeeding women. It is a landmark achievement, which we won and which every government agreed to. Africa, in fact, provided the leadership for this amendment. It came out of Africa. We’re very proud to work with the African governments that pushed this amendment from the floor of the convention.

So, we now have a minima, a floor: No amalgam for children. It is itself a key accomplishment, but it’s also a springboard, because if we can end amalgam for children, we can end it for all of us.

The Chicago Declaration: A Big Win Toward Mercury-Free US

The Chicago Declaration for mercury non-use in the dental industry was the game changer in the United States because the FDA agreed shortly thereafter to meet with us. We were able to bring them the information of how much Europe had already done, how much countries around the world had already done, and to show that the U.S. was, frankly, way behind by not acting against dental amalgam.

The next year, 2019, the FDA convened a hearing of its advisory committee. And this is to the great credit of the director for the Center for Devices and Radiological Health, Dr. Jeff Shuren. He supervised this directly and met with us.

The hearing was held in 2019. We brought a team of 15 people to Washington, including a commissioner from Los Angeles, a commissioner from Oregon, one Democrat and one Republican.

We brought four lawyers. We brought Native American representatives, the Children’s Environmental Health Network, Learning Disabilities Association of America, holistic pharmacist, holistic dentist, physician with a National Medical Association, a former dental school dean, Dr. Reuben Warren, a stellar human being. Just a strong, strong team to Washington, came and testified. Others spoke by phone or we read their testimony.

And the advisory panel said to the FDA, “You need to move on this. You need to tell people that silver fillings aren’t silver, they’re mercury, and you need to give warnings to particular people.” It took one more year.

It was hard to get all this together, but September 24, 2020, the FDA acted and issued a safety communication warning, warning against amalgam use. And then the FDA issued infographics to make it very clear to the consumer, issued them in English, and then at our request, issued them in Spanish as well.

So, that has changed the perception here, and changed the dynamic for manufacturers, for dentists, for consumers and for policy makers, because the FDA has stepped up and said, “Amalgam use must be drastically curtailed.”

The FDA Is Finally Taking Steps After a 20-Year Battle

We did win against the FDA — we won the safety communication. It was not easy, and that’s why support from dentists in America, from consumers in America and from foundations in America, like Dr. Mercola’s, made such a difference to those who stayed with us. It took 20 years. We had a hearing at FDA in 2006 we thought we’d won.

I can vividly remember Dr. Hal Huggins, the lead pioneer dentist for mercury-free dentistry, so pleased he was crying, because he thought we won. The bureaucrats took it away from us. In 2008, we thought we won because we beat FDA in court. The FDA had to classify amalgam under an order of a federal judge.

That time, it wasn’t the bureaucrats, it was the politicians in Washington that beat us. And the rule came out much weaker, much different from what it appeared that was promised and we were told.

We had to win internationally. The World Alliance for Mercury-Free Dentistry, which I was honored to be elected as president in 2010, had to go out and win all over the place, particularly with the EU. Then the FDA realized it was way behind the curve.

When we produced the Chicago Declaration and added to our credibility and showed we had a national powerhouse coalition, which we did, the FDA acted and that’s to the credit of Director Shuren, but I think it’s also to the credit of our organization, our tenacity, and to the support of men and women across North America, who stayed with us.

The WHO Was a Hurdle That We Successfully Overcame

The World Health Organization (WHO) was a huge problem for mercury-free dentistry. In 2010, at the start of the treaty negotiations, they actually endorsed more amalgam use in Africa, as sickening an idea as that is. They just couldn’t visualize African dentists being able to do mercury-free dentistry, which is pretty darn insulting, frankly.

They didn’t visualize how important mercury-free dentistry was across the world. We made a decision that our campaign was mercury-free dentistry for everyone, that the Minamata Convention on Mercury was going to address mercury-free dentistry for everyone.

We’re so proud that the Africa region — the African governments — became the engine, the leadership in the world, to push for stronger action. The WHO stood in the way in those early years throughout the decade of the 2010s. Thankfully, they changed chief dental officers, and the new chief dental officer, Dr. Benoit Varenne, came in with an open mind. The WHO started to hear from regional offices who were recognizing the changes going on in the countries.

In 2022, at the Minamata Convention on Mercury, the WHO endorsed minimally invasive mercury-free dentistry. See, amalgam’s not minimally invasive. It’s tooth-unfriendly. It destroys good tooth matter. So, as a technical matter, amalgam is terribly inferior to the alternatives.

The WHO endorsed minimally invasive, which is the alternative, and mercury-free, which is the same thing. The minimally invasive are mercury-free. The one that is invasive and tooth-unfriendly, one and only, is mercury.

Tirelessly Working to Abolish Amalgam Use for Good

Our goal is to, first, end amalgam for vulnerable people: children, women of childbearing age, and those with neurological and kidney problems. Second is to end the use of amalgam, period, in the United States, Canada and in the entire world.

We moved toward that goal step by step, in the years that we’ve been here, starting at the state level in the United States, then the federal level, and then the world level. We will work alone on that solitary mission. The end of the use of dental amalgam and the requirement in dentistry that only mercury-free, pollution-free dental materials be used.

The Plan to Eliminate Amalgam Has Been Set in Motion

When the FDA acted, the paradigm shifted our way. And the largest manufacturer of dental products in the world, they make everything in dental care, Dentsply, stopped selling amalgam. They fought us for years all at once. The handwriting was on the wall. They announced to their shareholders they had stopped selling at the end of 2020. Three months after the FDA acted, they were out of the amalgam business. The largest manufacturer won’t make them, won’t sell them.

The no. 2 manufacturer acted next in 2021. And that’s Envista. Their company’s manufacturer subsidiary is Kerr. So, the two publicly traded dental product makers in America no longer make amalgam. We intend to continue to crash the amalgam industry to make finding amalgam really hard.

We have now shifted to the major importers into North America, who are Ivoclar Vivadent Inc. from Europe and Southern Dental Industries from Australia, and trying to get them to discontinue making amalgam. We are also now shifting to the wholesalers, to the distributors. We want to make it so hard that even the United States government will say, “I wonder where we can get our amalgam?” And the answer is, “You don’t need it, so quit buying it.”

It’s quite an exciting year ahead for us. We hope you’ll help us get there. First, we have a worldwide minimum that we want to get enforced: No amalgam for children in the U.S. and Canada, and worldwide. We need to end amalgam in federal government programs, which, hopefully, the states will pay attention and do, and we’re working on it.

Next, we’re going to crash the industry. That is going to continue. Remember: The two major U.S. dental products makers, Dentsply and Envista, no longer sell amalgam. We’re going to go after the importers, and we’re going to go after the publicly traded distributors.

We have a campaign in place. We have state-based NGOs. We have a national committee, U.S. mercury-free dentistry committee. We have a particular focus now in Latin America. We’ve opened up campaigns in the four largest, most populist nations in Latin America: Brazil, Mexico, Colombia and Argentina. We have a campaign in the Caribbean as well, led by an NGO in Jamaica.

Finally, we are on the cusp in Europe — the EU, 27 nations now. Basically, it’s most of the continent of Europe, making its decision this year on whether to put together a mercury regulation that includes the end of amalgam. We can get it in the regulation this year. We take it to the European parliament in 2023. If we succeed, it’s the end of amalgam in the third largest jurisdiction on Earth.

Many Countries Are Phasing Out Amalgam — We Can Do It, Too

Quite a few countries have ended amalgam use or set an end date, and they’re all over the world. Quite a few countries in the EU have set an end date for amalgam. Tanzania is the first African country to set an end date. I mean by law, not just say as a hope. It is required by law in Tanzania. Nepal, Philippines, Italy, some of the largest economies in the world, all have set end dates for the use of amalgam.

Some countries have already ended it, like Norway and Sweden. In Moldova, the poorest country in Europe, there’s no amalgam; you can’t use it. New Caledonia, an island territory in the Pacific owned by France, has ended all amalgam. It should embarrass the government of France. I don’t think the government of France can be embarrassed, but it should embarrass them because their territory in the Pacific has ended amalgam.

So, we are seeing in country after country, the end. Not the phase down, not the reduction, not just the end for children — but the end of amalgam. It’s coming, and coming, and coming more and more often. Saint Kitts and Nevis in this hemisphere has ended the use of amalgam.

We can do it in the United States. We can do it in Canada. Countries, big and small, rich and poor, have ended amalgam already. We have the prototypes. It means all of us, including here in North America, can go all the way.

A Prototype for the US: How Other Nations Limited Amalgam Use

Countries are adopting different strategies to phase out amalgam by taking major steps within use. The third largest military force in the world, the Indian Armed Forces, have ended amalgam entirely. Pentagon can’t say they don’t have the money. They have all the money they need. India has ended amalgam. The Bangladesh Army, certainly not a well-funded army, has ended all amalgam use. So, the armed forces are one route.

Another is going to end amalgam in children, which the Philippines has done, Mauritius has done, Tanzania has done, Guiana has done, the entire EU with 27 countries have done. We can end amalgam for children. Dozens of countries now have ended amalgam for children. And usually, with that, for pregnant and breastfeeding women, too.

Changing the dental schools so they stop teaching amalgam use — that is true in Uruguay. So, we have that breakthrough in Latin America, where the dental schools no longer teach amalgam. And in Nigeria, we just got word that one of the dental schools no longer gives amalgam to children and is doing the same steps.

The Dentists Committee for a Mercury-Free Africa have adopted this initiative all over the continent. So, we’re seeing routes that countries are taking. They’re all useful routes, and they’re all headed in the same direction — substantial reduction of amalgam use and moving to phase out, as several countries have already done.

Thank You, Dr. Mercola, for Taking a Stand With Us

We express our gratitude to my good friend, Dr. Joseph Mercola, who began a matching-funds campaign with us 11 years ago. For the 12th year in a row during August, and this year it ends August 27, 2022, he has matched every dollar put on the table. This year, he will match up to $150,000.


donate to consumers for dental choice

In those 12 years, Dr. Mercola has provided funding to be sure. He has also provided his network, where if we want to get a message out to policy-makers, they get that to the consumers of America, North America, the world, Europe, wherever we’re working, and the consumers act and get a message to the policy makers.

Dr. Mercola has provided strategic advice to give us ideas, to give us an approach, because we don’t win without the right strategy. The ideas are important, and that’s why I stress that as a strategic partner, how important it is to have Dr. Joseph Mercola as our partner as we move forward to transition North America and the world to ending the use of mercury in the mouth.

Help Us End Amalgam Here and Around the World

There’s a role you can do to end amalgam, and that would be, first of all, to not get amalgam. Don’t let you or your family get amalgam. Insist on mercury-free dentistry. Second, go to a mercury-free dentist if you have any control. We recognize those who are in the military, who are incarcerated, who are on Medicaid, or living on tribal lands may not have those choices, and we are trying to change that. But if you have choices, you need to go to a dentist who’s mercury-free.

If you can’t persuade that dentist to stop giving amalgam to everyone, don’t give them your hard-earned dollars. Go to a dentist — because they exist in your community, I assure you — who provides mercury-free dentistry.

So, don’t get amalgam, don’t go to dentist that does; instead, go to a mercury-free dentist, and support us, Consumers for Dental Choice, because we’re reaching way beyond individual situations, individual communities, to the country and the world to end dental amalgam.

1 Like